Taking The Game Out Of Gamification

Gamification purports that the main appeal of video games are game mechanics. Gamification asserts that these mechanics, which include points, badges, levels, etc., can be excised from video games and used to motivate people to perform tasks outside the realm of traditional video games. This paper challenges these claims by arguing that the core of video games is valuable content, not game mechanics. It illustrates how game mechanics are not exclusive to video games and are used only to enhance the content naturally found in games. It further explores how gamification uses mechanics to limit the amount of valuable content provided to players while at the same time gathering valuable personal information from players.